


Straighten the Spine, Smile for the Neighbors

by 2towels



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Back to Earth, Can be seen as platonic, Canon Compliant, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Going Home, Langst, M/M, but really they're in love and supporting each other, klangst, lance goes home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 15:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11900355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2towels/pseuds/2towels
Summary: Keith's face furrowed into a scowl, though his eyes were closed as if he was waiting to fall asleep on the journey. "Do you want me to come with you or not?"And though Lance had never invited him, nor consciously given any indication that such was the case, he couldn't help but be relieved at the offer of Keith's company.===Lance, finally able to go home and see his family, takes a friend.





	Straighten the Spine, Smile for the Neighbors

**Author's Note:**

> To the tune of [This!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSQFjtszBYg) That song is amazing and one of the first things I added to my langst playlist!

Lance sat at the controls of his pod with his eyes closed, taking four-second breaths in and out. Allura's voice was floating to his ears from a few rows down, discussing something with Pidge, and Hunk was whistling from across the walkway, but Lance was too focused on his frustratingly shaky hands to match his best friend's tune.

"Alright gang, you heard Pidge before, we only have thirty-five hours until the scrambling the castle is omitting will lessen, so make sure you account well enough for the hours on your return flight." Shiro's voice was steady, but his wet eyes didn't evade Lance's notice. He was preparing his own pod in relative silence a short distance from Hunk, and Keith leaned against it just as quietly. The bag over the red paladin's shoulder was stuffed with god only knew what, and he, like the rest of them, was dressed in his Earth casuals, but he didn't seem nearly as wired as everyone else on the ship. He had the gall to yawn to himself when Shiro was busy checking the contents of his own dufflebag.

Coran's boisterous call of "Provisions!" broke the small trance Lance was in, forcing him to robotically leave his seat and wait at the edge of the walkway for Coran to reach him with his share of food and drink for the journey. It was only a short while, and they'd be home, but there was a strange comfort in knowing that Coran felt the need to send them off with small packets of goo-on-the-go and water pouches. Lance felt a smile twitch onto his lips in assurance as Coran handed him his small space lunch box with a heavy gaze.

"And you're sure the cloaking will hold out, Pidge?" Allura was asking from down the way when Lance re-focused. He set the box under his dashboard in his pod and left it again to lean against the bow. Hunk's whistling had an echo to it as he moved underneath his own vessel, most likely double-checking the mechanics to reassure himself.

Pidge laughed, light in comparison to the tension in the air, and waved over Allura's shoulder as Matt entered the hanger, stacks of papers and tablets in his hand. "Of course. You had Slav, Hunk, and Matt all re-crunch my numbers separately. Everything should happen without a hitch, the majority of Earth save for our families won't know for a second we were here."

Allura glanced back to the older Holt sibling with a sigh. "Yes, you're right. I just don't like to put you all at risk separately. You all have your bayards, correct?"

"I checked their bags myself, Princess!" Coran declared with pride, handing Keith the last box of provisions and folding his arms behind his back.

Lance squawked at the invasion, but there was no heat to his protest. "You went through our stuff?!"

Mustache bristling, Coran didn't miss a beat. "Naturally! Couldn't have you all scurrying off without making sure you were prepared for anything!"

Hunk rolled out from under his pod, sitting up with furrowed brows. "You've only ever heard about Earth from us, how could you prepare us for anything on there?"

Shiro, turning away from Keith (who rubbed his face at something Shiro had said), cut off the discussion before it dissolved into nonsense, knowing they were short on time. "Speaking of, are you sure you'll all be fine up here? The distress signals can work both ways, and if you need us to make a return trip at short notice don't hesitate."

The princess turned from Pidge's pod fully, sweeping her silver hair over her shoulder thoughtlessly and glancing at all six of the waiting faces. "Of course. Slav is setting up an ancient Altean game of  _ Yubblix _ as we speak, and I'm sure we'll all be fine a day and a half without Voltron." Despite exuding the usual confidence and coolness to her demeanor, her hesitance at the statement (having just learned of jinxes from Hunk hours earlier) was clear as she spoke of the universe saving robot.

Lance felt a lump in his throat, and he shook his head to dislodge it and ease some tension. "Don't miss us too much, Princess. We'll be back before you know it." He winked, hoping it hadn't come off as stiff as he felt, and grinned when Allura rolled her eyes.

Without further preamble, Shiro crossed the walkway to hug Matt tightly and ruffle Pidge's hair. He offered Allura a smile and gave Lance and Hunk a strong clasp to the shoulder individually. He was the first to climb into his pod, though the rest of them easily followed suit.

Again, Lance's fingers trembled as he looked down at the controls. Four beats in, four beats out. As Pidge's voice gave various launch sequence markers, Lance followed suit in a daze. Just before his pod locked himself in and he began the sequence for all life support and travel dependency, a bag thudded behind him, and Keith climbed in.

"What--" Lance immediately spluttered, looking back wildly as Keith weaved around his stuff and crawled into the seat beside him. "What are you doing?"

Keith rose an eyebrow at the blue paladin, not missing his pale face and shaky form, and shrugged while he leaned back in his seat. "I've never been to the beach."

"Then go with Hunk?" Lance swore mentally at the question in his voice, "He lives on an island, too. I thought...you were going back to Arizona. Or with Shiro."

Keith's face furrowed into a scowl, though his eyes were closed as if he was waiting to fall asleep on the journey. "Do you want me to come with you or not?"

And though Lance had never invited him, nor consciously given any indication that such was the case, he couldn't help but be relieved at the offer of Keith's company.

\---

Keith brooded for the first hour of the journey down to Earth before Lance finally cleared his throat. His shaking had stopped, initial nerves being replaced with the automatic motions of flying Altean technology, and he felt calm and confident enough to approach the sleeping lion of a boy.

"What?" Keith glanced at Lance when too many mindless seconds had passed without Lance actually saying anything.

He tried to choose his words carefully. "I was just wondering...what's up?"

They weren't the right words by any stretch of the imagination, but Keith looked undeterred as he stared out of the cockpit, eyes tracing the outline of Earth's edge in darkness. "Nothing much, dude. Tell me about Cuba."

Lance blanched, knowing well something was wrong. "It's...hot." Though the images were clear in his mind, his artistic language was dried up on the subject of his home. "And old-fashioned. Lively but quiet in weird nooks you find."

When he glanced back at Keith from the controls, Keith was watching him, and he swallowed loudly.

\---

Hours later when they entered the atmosphere, Lance was nervous again. It took all of ten seconds for Keith to ask, "Do you want me to pilot?" Lance's head had whipped to his partner's, expecting their usual heated words, but there was no malice in Keith's request, and Lance relinquished control in favor of sitting and staring at his hands quietly.

\---

They touched down in silence, sand from an empty beach settling all around their pod and fresh oranges and reds beaming onto them as the sun rose. Keith went through the motions of shutting off the controls and ensuring their cloaking technology was in full effect, and only when he  moved to grab his dufflebag was it that Lance himself got up, his breath feeling stale in his lungs.

The soft sand underneath Lance's sneakers and the fresh smell of the ocean brought tears to his eyes instantly, and a strangled sound left his mouth as he tried to settle down, not wanting to let Keith know he was so much of a mess right now. Thankfully, the red paladin didn't comment, slinging Lance's bag over his shoulder where his own hung and denying Lance the opportunity to grab it himself.

While Lance stared out at the ocean, waves only feet away from him pushing at the wet sand, Keith stood silently next to him, eyes a little distant.

"You can't see Florida from here." Lance finally said, clearing his throat, "I know some people try to say they can see Havana lights from the Keys or whatever, but you can't really. Same vice-versa."

"That one girl at the Garrison used to brag all the time about how often she visited Cuba because she lived in Miami or something." Keith said idly, gaze drifting to the right where the sun was rising and letting it catch there.

Lance snorted, "You remember her, huh." He didn't have to turn to catch Keith's eye-roll.

"I don't have to go all the way with you, if you want." The red paladin said after a beat, quieter.

"What?" Lance fumbled as he turned away from the shore, knowing exactly the direction to walk like second nature. "I'm not mad at you, let's go."

Keith followed suit, but didn't look amused. "I know you're not. I just mean...it's not my business to be here, really. It's not my family."

There were a million situations where Lance could imagine himself heartily agreeing, wanting to scoop up his family away from everything involving him in space and protecting them from everything he'd spent the last three years doing. His initial reaction to the coil in his gut had been to abide by one of those million situations, but seeing the outline of Keith's silhouette in the dawn, and taking in his concentrated and steady gaze, Lance took an extra moment to observe what he meant.

"Of course it is." He said softly, rubbing the back of his neck and huffing as he began to walk. "It's--You guys are all my family. It works by extension. So, they're yours, too."

"That's not actually how it works." Keith pointed out blandly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Lance ignored him, "The pod should be fine because nobody usually comes to this beach since it's so out of the way. Plus, it's a weekday, so...work and stuff. Unless we got the days wrong."

Keith jogged to catch up with Lance. "Do you remember how long the walk is?"

A scoff tumbled from his lips, but it was interrupted slightly by his trembling. "Hour and a half or so. That's usually with kids hanging on my ankles, though."

A warm, steady hand found Lance's back from behind, and he took a deep breath. It was easy, after that, to dive into explaining little sections of their journey to Keith, who knew little about both Cuba and beach towns in general. He seemed interested in the tidbits, and nodded along to most of Lance's explanations.

Forty minutes into their walk, Lance's hands waving emphatically over the little corner shop they'd just passed, Keith blurted, "I told Shiro I didn't want to go with him."

Lance paused, fixing his companion with an obviously confused gaze, and Keith pushed on. "He was going to see his parents, obviously, and I didn't want to go see the Shiroganes."

"That's fine, buddy." Lance said softly, but Keith shook his head, gaze hardened and jaw set.

"They took care of me for a little before the Garrison. When the Kerberos mission failed and I flunked out, I tried going back to them but they didn't want me around." Other than his nostrils flaring, Keith showed no reaction towards his statement.

"Does Shiro--"

"No." They rounded a corner at Lance's urging, and Keith spared a glance over at the blue paladin, gaze still hardened and unrelenting. "They were grieving, and they had no reason to take me in. I wasn't going to tell him because I don't really hold it against them."

Lance frowned, though he didn't know enough about the situation specifically to be able to discern whether Keith was being genuine about how they weren't in the wrong. By Keith's count alone, it sounded awfully...unkind.

"I didn't want to be the only one in the castleship." Keith added quietly, as if it was an afterthought to his explanation.

Sweeping his gaze across Keith's features, Lance released a soft breath and nodded. "That's fine. Like I said: you're family. So...you don't have to explain to me why you're here."

He looked away embarrassingly when Keith turned sharply to meet his eyes. "That's not why I'm here. I would have gone with Hunk if I just wanted to get out. I'm here for you. That's why I said I'd hang back if you wanted me to." His gloved hands were steady in front of him, as if he was having trouble articulating his point.

Lance, breathing just the slightest bit pressured and face feeling warmer, looked across the street at a flower shop a little ways ahead of them and chuckled, pointing to it. "There was this old lady...We all used to call her  _ Antiguo Rosa _ because she'd been running the shop longer than any of us or our parents had even been alive, and she used to yell at me, like, twice a day for crossing the street blindly. Always said I was going to get hit by a car."

"You don't look both ways when you cross the street?" Keith mercifully granted Lance the topic change, watching the flower shop as a light flicked on from within.

Lance's pointing finger faltered seeing the movement behind the window, fully realizing the time was creeping on and the streets wouldn't be so empty and quiet soon. "I guess not as slow as a normal person. I'm plenty safe."

Keith picked up on the hesitance in Lance's steps and words, gaze not leaving the shop. "You don't want to see Anne...tig Rose?"

" _ Antiguo Rosa. _ " Lance corrected, chuckling breathlessly in the most unflattering way, "No, she was so old when I still lived here before the Garrison. She's probably dead, she had tons of problems with her back." His breath hitched on the last word and Keith's steady hand was between his shoulder blades, comforting him again.

The door opened and out sauntered a short old woman, more wrinkle than human, with a watering can in her hands. She had a small, almost demure smile as she looked at the pots littering the front of her store, and set the can down to pick up one of her plants and inspect it.

Lance's breathing was labored. Keith, unsure of what to make from his friend's reaction, simply stared at the old woman as she milled about. After a moment of turning the pot in her hands, she seemed to sense the stillness in the air, and turned to peer across the street with wandering eyes. It didn't take long for her gaze to find the boys, both staring at her blatantly, and after what seemed like ages in the staredown, the pot tumbled out of her hands.

It hit the sidewalk with a crack, and it seemed to be all Lance needed to tear his gaze away, eyes blown wide and wild, and begin sprinting down the street. Keith took a half a moment to throw the bags across his chest rather than just over his shoulder before tearing after him, leaving the old woman and the broken pot behind.

Only moments passed for Keith to catch up, though Lance's legs were longer and gave him more advantage, and he attempted to anchor the panicked boy by thrusting forward and snatching at his hand, dragging him backwards. It worked enough, though Lance was looking at anyone on the street around them, even the cars as they passed, with a sort of nervousness that was completely unbecoming of the blue paladin. He was panting, but it didn't slow despite having stopped running, and when he looked back at Keith there were fresh tears in his eyes.

"You have to..." Keith didn't know how to rephrase any advice Shiro had given him, fumbling at the sight of Lance's wet eyes. "Calm down." He finished lamely.

"I-I can't." Lance's shoulders bunched as he caught sight of somebody looking at them from down the street, approaching casually. "I don't--Keith, I couldn't do it."

Still holding Lance's hand and not wanting the approaching man to have the opportunity of a single second of recognizing Lance besides in passing, Keith pushed forward and dragged Lance beside him. "Couldn't do what?"

"The Garrison!" A bitter laugh erupted from Lance, and the man watched long over his shoulder as he sailed past them, "I couldn't do it at the Garrison! I-Listen Keith, it took  _ so long _ to get there. I worked so hard and I did everything I could to afford it and get my grades up to be accepted and my parents--Oh god, my dad took out  _ loans _ to send me and...and..."

A group of people across the street seemed to pause and glance at Keith and Lance as they passed, elbowing amongst themselves, and Keith pressed on. "And I let them down." Lance stumbled a little but didn't stop, "It's been three years. They probably think I died. We still don't know what the Garrison told them. Everyone in the neighborhood knew...everyone saw me off to become an astronaut. I--I let them all down. They were so proud of me." Lance's voice came out in cracks and chokes, and he seemed to lose more and more of his composure the longer they continued down the street.

Keith had turned his head to stare at Lance, mouth agape and not understanding any reason for his level of fright at his return. "Lance," He began, but Lance was trying to speak again.

"They used to call me their little star. Because I always wanted to go to space. Everyone in my family used to call me that and even, like, three of the neighbors. Keith, they sent me away only for me to disappear and leave my family in debt without me." A deep shuddering breath left him hunched over, "I let everyone down."

"You became a  _ Paladin of Voltron. _ " Keith growled, jerking at Lance's hand in his and trying to call the full attention of the sniveling boy. "The  _ first _ Paladin out of all of us.  You--You flew into space even before I did, and you called us  _ rivals _ !"

Lance's wet eyes glanced at Keith again, but he was shaking his head. "That's not--”

"It's  _ better. _ " Keith cut him off, "You saved the universe on a daily basis for these three years, you didn't just run away."

The number of lingering gazes on Lance increased the further they got, and Keith was at least impressed at Lance's ability to keep stumbling forward despite how wrecked he was seeming. "What if...they're mad at me?" He asked, using his free hand to cover his mouth.

Keith squeezed Lance's fingers between his with determination, marching forward still. "If I lost you for three years," He began mindlessly, mouth moving before his mind, "I would be more fucking ecstatic to have you back than mad."

Lance stopped in his tracks, making Keith pause and think over his words with a scowl, but when he looked back at the boy he was linked to, he wasn't looking at Keith with horror or confusion. He stared at the house to their left, hand only slightly lowered from his mouth and trembling again.

Keith stepped towards Lance and lifted his free hand to swipe lightly at his tears with a closed fist, ignoring Lance's gaze flicking down to his gloves. "They love you. You talk about it all the time." The red paladin said without a doubt, lowering his hand and untangling the other to rest on Lance's upper arms.

When Lance surged forwards to envelop Keith in a hug, burying his face into his friend's neck, Keith accepted it with only mild surprise. Lance's long fingers buried themselves in the back of Keith's shirt, and Keith coached him through deep breaths while they stood in front of the gateway to the home Lance grew up in.

With the iron will Keith knew was buried in him, Lance took a deep, sharp breath after a few moments into their embrace, straightened his spine, and wiped his tears away over again. When he meet Keith's gaze, it was much more composed, and he glanced over the yard to take in all that was laying around. There were two small plastic hovercars in the lawn, the kind they made for children, and a rusty blue pick-up truck in the driveway. Lance's breath hitched again looking at it, but he didn't let himself linger, pushing through the gate with a hand still buried in Keith's shirt and pulling him up the walkway with him.

Every single porch step creaked under them as they ascended, and each floorboard followed suit. When Keith looked away from the door, glancing at Lance, he caught the curl of a soft and hesitant smile, and watched as a soft, tanned hand lifted to bang mercilessly at the outer edge of the screen door.

"Don't have your keys?" He asked, blinking.

The sound of someone tromping down the stars came softly, and Lance laughed. "No, I think I lost them somewhere between wormholes forty-five and one hundred and nine."

The door flew open, a wild looking set of weary eyes peering up at the pair, a startlingly familiar blue through the screen.

"...Lance?"

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr!](http://2towels.tumblr.com)  
> It doesn't look super great right now but I'm working on it, no biggie


End file.
